stant

I just got done with a quick weekend trip to San Antonio Texas. I booked 2 nights stay at the Westin riverwalk. I asked my ambassador to put in for SNAs for the stay, but he said none were available for the dates I had picked, so he would email the property and ask them to upgrade me as a courtesy. Before checkin I had already been pre-booked into a corner suite (having paid for just the cheapest room, $150/night with $50 resort credit). When I got there I found out that they wanted to put me in a luxury suite. Top floor, probably 1500 sq ft. (I looked it up, 1560 sq ft - and $2700/night 'members only pre-paid' rate) 2 bathrooms, kitchen, dining area, living room, bedroom and bathroom with soaking tub and separate shower. But get this. The room didnt come with *any* bikini models! I even looked in all of the closets and cabinets in case they were put away. And the tub wasnt pre-filled with champagne! Not even prosecco!

On my last stay at the Le Meridian in London I got upgraded to a executive suite (about 600 GPB per night to start) despite paying 220 GPB /night for the week. In my last 30 nights or so with this property I have gotten an executive suite upgrade all but 1 stay, and that stay was a junior suite.

A few months ago in Miami, I was staying at a legacy SPG property by the airport when I had to go down to renew my passport. It turned out that there was a slight problem with my new passport photo and the agent told me to stick around the area in case they needed to call me back to the office to get a new one done. So I went to the Marriott across the street from the passport office and said 'I'm dead tired and have to stick around the passport office, can I pretty please have access to the club lounge so I can relax a bit despite not being a guest at the property' - they said 'here is your pass key'.

Around Christmas time I was at the Marriott park lane in London. I needed to have some packages sent off to various destinations, a gift sourced that was sold out in shops for the better half, and I asked if the restaurant could get a piece of beef from selfriges that I have been wanting to try. All done and dusted by the time I ckecked in.

In short, I have had GREAT service from Marriott lately.

I can only assume I'm not the only one, yet I didnt notice any threads near the top about above and beyond Marriott experiences.... So I made this one

3544quebec

Thank you Arne for that informative post

stant

Hey, look at my history, Ive had plenty to complain about marriott in the past, but since the growing pains associated with integration, and being put off by my inability to earn LT titanium, I have had nothing but great experiences... Not just good, but above and beyond.

EuropeanPete

Newman

Glad to hear about all of your positive experiences.
I share your sense of satisfaction with all of Marriott's efforts of going above and beyond.
Since the merger I have noticed that the front desk people are more polite, my status has been recognized and I was given more upgrades, and services in general have improved dramatically.

Newman

Sam P. Goodman

OP, that's not being Bonvoyed. What you're describing is called being "SPG'd."

CCIE_Flyer

lexdevil

I think it goes a bit further than moxie. I'd classify it as chutzpah. I am, however, pleased that stant was treated so well.

Who asks a hotel restaurant to run down the road to Selfridges' Food Hall for a special piece of beef they've been wanting to try?


More importantly, if you have a passion for meat, why are you letting a decent hotel restaurant touch such a special piece of meat when you could just eat at the Quality Chop House?

stant

if it comes off as aggression, I apologize. I'm not saying people shouldn't complain. But at the same time I think it's worth while pointing out the good in the program too. I have had great experience after great experience with marriott lately. I came to FT after not posting for a while and looked through the first few hundred threads and didnt see any 'atta boy, marriott' threads, so I thought one needed to be created...

SkiAdcock

FTers appreciate ALL input, good or bad (at least I do).

Cheers.

stant

To be fair, this was probably around 2pm and I had literally NO sleep at all the night before. I was basically a walking zombie at that point. The front desk staff probably just took pity on me.

If you are familiar with that case, the particular beef was right to the left of the field of view shown
And come on - this is central London. I wasnt asking for a ferarri, just a chunk 'o cow!

Great. ANOTHER place to add to the list. No matter how much time I spend in that city, the places I want to eat keep growing in number!

lexdevil

It's a tough life. Seriously, if you appreciate meat, there's no place better than the Quality Chop House. Not fancy, but meticulously selected meat prepared simply to highlight its high quality. Oh...and confit potatoes.

ryan182

My bold - fully agree with this, and IMO its equally if not more important to shine a light on positive experiences. If FT is just a dumping ground of complaints and negativity then I can see mgmt and lurkers thinking ah well those people are never happy...ignore and more importantly the hotels that get it right should be recognized for delighting customers. IMO being as vocal about positive experiences as we are negative helps in setting expectations for Marriott and as a reader of the forum I'm as keenly interested in hearing about properties that do a good job (so I can choose to stay there) as I am those that don't (so I can avoid them).

stant

That link sounds like jay rayner's writting, but it seems to be someone I'm unfamiliar with. I'll give the place the benefit of the doubt for now. Keep in mind I have flown from Florida to California for bacon before, but you will never convince me with potato alone - unless it's covered by a heaping pile of a5 ribcap

My next stay at the Marriot park lane is in about 3 weeks. I'll definitely have to give the place a try, at very least for a sunday roast. I'm too much a gentleman to publicly say what I'd do to the yorkshire in that photo! Thank you for the suggestion!

DJ_Iceman

I disagree. He wasn't lied to OR convinced that he was "super-duper special" with no real benefits to back up the hype.